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Discussion

Ageism from a resume?

Hello,

I am 44 years old. I have been an RN since I was 20 (earned my ADN straight out of high school). I have 23 years of experience in med- surg, LTAC, dialysis. I am updating my resume in hopes of finding new opportunities.

I felt as if I need help with writing my resume and "selling myself". I submitted my rough draft resume to a service through Monster.com and after a few days I received a sparkling new, updated one. However, it only lists my experience going back 15 years. Even on the cover letter it mentions "15 years". I emailed the writer and questioned this. I received this reply:

Hi Doro,

I'm so sorry that I forgot to clarify why the dates were changed. Ordinarily I explain that when I send the draft. Due to the very real problem of age discrimination and because hiring managers are not concerned with earlier work, our policy is to go back only ~15 years. Unfortunately, in our society, youth has more value than experience. However, if you feel you definitely want all your years of work mentioned, then I will make that change. Let me know please.

Best,

"Monster Resume Writer" (names have been changed)

So, what do you think? I felt a little hurt at first, because I don't think I am "older", and there are distinct advantages to hiring people older than their 20's-30's and I think some employers know this too. I also think it is kind of "dishonest"? Then again, she may have a very good point! Opinions and comments please!

Thanks,

Doro8144

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    I am not seeing the harm in putting down 15 years. If you had changed jobs every 5 yrs. you would only put the last 3 jobs on your resume (last 15 years). Do you think that an employer would hire you more easily if you showed 23 yrs experience than 15 yrs experience?

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    36 minutes ago, doro8144 said:

    there are distinct advantages to hiring people older than their 20's-30's and I think some employers know this too.

    I think there is an advantage of hiring a 35 yr old with 15 yrs experience over a 22 yr old with 2 yrs experience. But, there is no significant difference hiring a 43 yr old with 23 yrs experience over a 35 yr old with 15 yrs experience.

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    I feel that ageism is keeping me from finding a better job. I am 57 years old and 11 years of experience. I know it's illegal to ask a person's age, but they can ask you when you graduated from high school. I get asked this question a lot on job applications. As a result, I never get any calls back. It might be a coincidence but my feeling is that it's not.

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